Cal Poly up and running

Cal Poly started back up yesterday and tonight our Gathering starts back up. The Gathering is our weekly meeting with students. A local doctor and his family weekly open their home and living room to us. Someone brings a meal and we all eat together and catch up. After that if someone brought a guitar we sing some songs but if not then we jump right into our discussion. This year we have been reading through John. For those of us who have read it before we are challenged to see it as if we never have before. This can be tough but it's really cool to discuss things. Also there are things you just assume you understand and it's been amazing to really talk about things.

The blessing of serving Navs on the Cal Poly campus is Campus Crusade has the largest ministry in the nation at Poly. Which means Christians have a place to go and we have the blessing to focus on non Christians. Not to say we don't have Christians, we do. But we ask a lot of them, the Christians in our groups are called to be leaders. To forget the Sunday school, comfortable answers, sometimes just being silent and hearing their non Christian peers. We request that they live with non Christians. Because if we as Christians only live with Christians how we ever impact others lives?

I feel like Christmas break flew by, being sick didn't help. I hope I am prepared for this next quarter. When we started the Navs we didn't know our training would require so much traveling so it has been hard to get traction with the girls. Also most of the girls have already been meeting with the other staff for awhile. There is one new girl student and she use to be in Tom's High School ministry, she is so awesome and I am so glad I have been getting to know her. She has an amazing heart and has really enjoyed getting involved with our Nav group.

Pray for the students and us as this quarter starts. Pray for me that in the midst of all my studying and training that I find time to get to know the girls better. That Tom's relationships with the guys continue to grow and that our entire staff continues to grow together and seek God.

We are reading a book called Encouragement by Dan B. Allender and Larry Crabb and it discusses what our role as Christians is. One of the quotes is "... comfort is not my goal. God's will is" (pg. 77). It's referring specifically to difficult conversations we have with others. When it's not easy to encourage or rebuke someone else or to share our own experiences and failures. Man I want that to be true in my life! But it's scary too. I like being comfortable but we are to love others more than ourselves.

God help me love You and others more than my own comfort.